


And Repeating Your Name

by Alexicon



Series: prompted on tumblr [13]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Tim Drake is Catlad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 12:10:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9656948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexicon/pseuds/Alexicon
Summary: Jason had a plan, and it was pretty simple. He’d sneak in to the party, he’d find the room where the shard was being kept, and he’d stay there and guard it until the party was over.It had seemed easy enough when he’d been on the driveway looking at all the open entrances he could use.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Nine months later. Let's just........not talk about that. Please. Uh, anyway!!! This should be one of the two (very late) stories I post today, so... enjoy!!
> 
> Prompt: Catlad!Tim/Robin!Jason 34 please??
> 
> 34 was 'meeting at a masquerade'. I hope you enjoy, friend!!
> 
> (I chose the name Catbird for a few reasons, one of which is that my future!headcanon for this 'verse is that he sort of teams up with them and there are many bird puns.)
> 
> Title from Ruby by Kaiser Chiefs. The line is _Finding out what you're called, and repeating your name_ which I thought was kind of great for this.

Jason had not intended to crash this party. He’d honestly been hoping to avoid it entirely, considering that it was a Wayne function and Jason Todd was supposed to be at home ‘sick’, not at a Halloween party in green shortpants. But he’d gotten word that someone was planning to steal one of the shards of the Rhysite Ruby that were displayed in one of the private rooms, and since B had already taken advantage of all the masks to skip out on his own party, Jason had decided he could cover it.

He’d forgotten how big these things could get.

He had no clues as to who might be stealing the ruby shard; he’d only heard that there were buyers who’d been promised an auction. The possible buyers were all pretty big nasties, though, and no one promised that kind of score to people like them unless they were sure they could follow through.

Jason had a plan, and it was pretty simple. He’d sneak in to the party, he’d find the room where the shard was being kept, and he’d stay there and guard it until the party was over.

It had seemed easy enough when he’d been on the driveway looking at all the open entrances he could use.

So far, he’d only barely managed the ‘sneaking in’ part. Jason wouldn’t mention how long that’d taken to Bruce later. Apparently, whoever organized this thing had hired the only competent security guards in all of Gotham City. Jason hoped that with his help, they’d be able to keep the ruby from leaving the building.

There were way too many doors and alcoves off this room, and Jason had no idea which room had the ruby shard. For some reason, that hadn’t been in the report he’d read. He’d have to ask Bruce about that later, but in the meantime, he was checking every offshoot from this room to see where it was.

He’d checked three rooms with no luck when someone came up to him and said, “If you’re looking for the bathroom, it’s on the other side, by the big table with the hors-d’oeuvre.”

“Ah, thank you, but no, I’m good.” Jason turned around to look at this person and blinked. About half of the people here were in regular Halloween costumes, while the other half seemed to think that fancy clothing and BeDazzled masks were enough to be going on with. This person was facing away from him to look at the whole room, but he was one of the ones with a Halloween costume on, which made Jason inclined to like him.

But the costume he’d chosen? It was a Catwoman costume. Jason had no idea why anyone would want to dress up as the notorious cat burglar at such a fancy party.

Although he supposed it was a much more tasteful costume than the idiot dressed in the terrible Joker costume in the middle of the room. Much better quality, too, although Jason didn’t know what he’d expected in a room full of rich weirdos.

“That’s a pretty nice Catwoman outfit you’ve got on,” Jason said, then mentally stalled. “Uhh. Catman? Catboy?”

The guy smiled and looked up at Jason through the glare on his goggles. “I call it Catbird, personally.” He showed a flash of teeth. “Catboy just doesn’t have the tone I’m going for.”

Jason nodded quickly, right there with him. “Oh, yeah, no, I get it. Just imagine if I’d gone with ‘Batboy’ instead of Robin. That’d sound ridiculous. There goes Batman and Batboy, off to fight some crime! No. Just, no.”

The boy in the Catbird costume let out a sharp laugh and turned to face him completely.

“That would be funny, though. It’s lucky the first one to wear that costume chose the name Robin.” He had a smile on his face. Jason couldn’t tell if it was meant to be friendly or wicked; he cursed Halloween out in his head for the umpteenth time. This time of year was always weird in Gotham.

“Yeah, that’s...lucky,” Jason said. He knew that some people could tell that he wasn’t the same person who’d been in the Robin suit eight years ago, but he was still uncomfortable when people brought it up in conversation. It was all right when bad guys did it, since he could punch them, but when normal people did it he didn’t really know how to respond.

“The current one could’ve changed his name, though,” Catbird said with a shrug, and Jason squinted at him for a moment before realizing what was going on.

Catbird thought that Jason was just another guy in a Robin costume. Well, to be fair, he was, but Catbird didn’t know that Jason was actually Robin.

“So what’s your name?” Catbird asked, and Jason thought quickly for a second. Did he want to tell this guy he was the real deal or was Jason okay with letting him think that? Jason didn’t know how Catbird would react if he revealed he was actually the Robin; he might be loudly shocked and draw attention where Jason really didn’t want any right now.

“Uh. This is a costume party, right? No names allowed. Guess I’m just Robin right now.”

“A masquerade,” said Catbird with a grin, “but yeah, I think I remember something about that now. It’s a pity, I’ve always wanted to unmask Robin.”

Jason laughed and tried to hide his nervousness. This guy was joking, Jason hoped. If Catbird really wanted to unmask Robin, he wouldn’t just come out and say it, right?

He’d met villains who did that, just said it straight-out like that, but they were villains, and they were usually about as subtle as a punch to the nose.

Jason couldn’t ask Catbird’s name now that he’d used that reasoning to avoid giving up his own name -- not with any expectation that the guy would answer, anyway.

“So...are you here with anyone?” Jason said, trying to see if he could figure out the guy’s name through the people he associated with. If Jason had to guess, he’d say Catbird was somewhere around 17 to 20; he’d probably be here with his parents, if anyone. That would make it a little easier when he looked at the guest list later.

“No,” answered Catbird. So Jason would be looking for a single invitee, young but still old enough to be invited without a guardian. Good to know. “Do you have a date?”

Jason blinked a few times and looked down at the R on his chest automatically. “Uh,” he said, “no. Not tonight.” As if there were times he came to these fancy parties with a date, and didn’t sit in the corner by the food with the rest of the hungry wallflowers.

If Jason was honest, he preferred being here in the Robin costume. This way, he could punch the rich criminals here without causing a scandal. Well, at least not a scandal that would reflect on _Brucie_.

“So Batman isn’t hanging around, ready to swoop in at any second?” Catbird joked, making a show of looking around the room. It was true; there was no one in a Batman costume here, not even the crummy kind you could make in three minutes with a good sewing machine.

“With that ‘hanging around’ comment, I’m surprised you didn’t check the ceiling,” said Jason ruefully, glad for the moment that Bruce wasn’t tuned in to his comms.

A dorky grin took over what Jason could see of Catbird’s face, and the snorting sound he made was the most undignified thing in this place aside from Jason himself and the person dressed as a peacock -- talons and all -- on the other side of the room.

“Didn’t want to go for the obvious joke,” Catbird said, tilting his head to the side in a lazy shrug.

Jason knew better; the guy just hadn’t thought of it. He’d met Catbird maybe three minutes ago and _already_ Jason knew that Catbird would go for the worst puns he could possibly find.

Jason shook his head, then abruptly remembered that there was a reason he was here, and it wasn’t to chat with mysterious costumed people. The _jewel_ , shit. He still hadn’t found it, and there was every possibility that whoever was after it had already managed to get in the room.

“Hell, sorry, I’ve got to...” Jason trailed off and motioned vaguely to the rest of the room, waiting until Catbird glanced around to spin on his heel and hurry off to the next door he needed to try.

There was nothing in that room either (well, except for a rack of _spears_ taller than Jason -- rich people were so weird) and Jason was beginning to think the thief had already taken it as he sped to the next one.

It felt like fate was toying with him, though, because that room was the one he was looking for. Jason stepped in quietly, trying not to alert any guards or partygoers to his presence.

“What is _that_?” a voice said from behind him, and Jason had to tense all of his muscles so he didn’t jump. It was Catbird again, of course, leaning around his body with his face lit up like he’d seen a cake on that pedestal instead of a few pieces of rock.

“It’s, uh, for the museum, they’re putting it in its place tomorrow,” said Jason, avoiding the question of what it was as neatly as he could manage. Catbird shouldn’t be in here. Jason couldn’t think of a way to kick him out without causing a commotion that would draw attention to a room whose best protection was that no one knew what was in it.

Catbird stepped past him, walking just close enough to take a closer look. Jason followed, and tried not to tense further as Catbird leaned down.

“Wow,” he said, whistling, “a piece of the Rhysite Ruby.”

“How did you know?” Jason asked, somewhere between stunned and suspicious. There was no reason for a stranger he’d met only minutes ago to know anything about the ruby.

“There’s a placard,” Catbird told him, and picked the placard up. Jason moved closer, trying to split his attention between Catbird’s hands and the ruby shards. “‘Dug from the mines of Charbati by local workers in the early eighteen-hundreds, the uncut ruby which would become known as the Rhysite Ruby was about the size of a soccer ball. It was then taken by a British officer named Edgar Rhys to be cut. His men mutinied, and the cut gem was stolen by one of the servants, who ran to Brazil with it. Disappeared until it turned up in Alaska somehow...was caught in an explosion, which separated it into its current state...this piece belongs to, ooh, I didn’t know _he’d_ gotten out of prison...”

“That’s all on there?” said Jason, hoping the mask hid his impressed expression well enough.

“Hmmm, no,” was his only answer for one confused second.

Catbird reached into a pocket whose only evidence had been a silver zipper seconds earlier and pulled out a remote. When he pressed the only button on the device, the lights surrounding the pedestal holding the ruby all went out, and Catbird snatched the shard and stashed it into the same pocket in one smooth movement.

Jason didn’t have time to be surprised. Catbird was already on his way out the door -- Jason wasted a precious moment to twist his body into the right direction to run after him. Catbird was _fast_ ; Jason spent his nights running after some pretty speedy criminals, but Catbird was in a league of his own. Jason tried not to trip over the transition between carpeting and tiles. There weren’t many people, the direction Catbird was running -- there was the buffet table -- and the kitchen door, right beside it. Catbird didn’t quite slam it open, but it almost hit Jason in the head as it swung closed again.

The kitchen was quiet, for a kitchen. There were fewer people in here than when he’d tried to sneak in this way earlier, and Catbird was pretty visible. Catbird was able to dance between the staff like it was choreographed; Jason had a bit more trouble trying not to run anyone over.

The door leading outside was open -- wasn’t that a security risk? -- except no, Jason could see three guards just outside the doorway, which meant Catbird had seen them too. Catbird ran right past that to another door, one which led to a flight of stairs.

A floor up, Catbird shot straight for a window and had almost wiggled it open when Jason threw a piece of silverware from a nearby table at his hand. Catbird caught it with eerie accuracy.

“You know, everything in this room is centuries old,” said Catbird conversationally, turning the fork over in his fingers.

“Except for us,” Jason pointed out.

“Except for us,” Catbird agreed. “You’re, what, twenty now? Isn’t it time you gave up the Robin mantle, like your predecessor did?”

Jason tried not to make a face. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to grow past Robin -- he did -- but he couldn’t deny the draw of being able to rub it in Dick’s face that he’d lasted as Robin until he was older than Dick had been when he had to become Nightwing.

“I forgot, he didn’t really give it up, did he,” said Catbird, not phrasing it as a question. “Never mind, I understand. Change is _hard_!” He smiled, a bright grin in the dim light. “I prefer cash, myself.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “I’d prefer you give the ruby back and we forget about this whole night,” he shot back.

Catbird scrunched up his face and tilted his head. “Nahh,” he said, and pulled the window the rest of the way open. He produced a grapple gun from nowhere Jason could see and leveled it out the window.

“There’s nothing out there to grapple,” Jason sighed. “Please? I’d rather not have to explain to the ambulance what happened.”

Catbird turned his head to face Jason and very obviously shook his head, sighing. Then he lifted it up and shot it through the glass.

Jason leapt forward and tried to grab Catbird, but it was too late -- he was already out the window.

“And don’t worry, I’d _never_ forget you,” said Catbird. He smirked, and added, “ _Jason_ ,” before rappelling down to the ground, the window closing with his weight.

If it was a tactic, it worked; Jason was slow in shaking off his surprise, and by the time he managed to open the window again, Catbird was nowhere in sight. Jason swore colorfully.

 _This’ll be fun to explain to B_ , thought Jason, trudging back down the stairs tiredly. _Who was that guy?_

He’d find out, one way or another.

**Author's Note:**

> It was VERY DIFFICULT not to write Tim's name ever in this whole thing!!! But POV demanded it.
> 
> [Say hi on tumblr](http://lexiconallie.tumblr.com)!!
> 
>  
> 
> [This story on tumblr](http://lexiconallie.tumblr.com/post/157092910518/catladtimrobinjason-34-please-omg-itd-be)


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